East China's Ningbo halts petrochemical project

Authorities in Ningbo are to place greater importance on environmental protection after deciding to halt a multibillion-yuan expansion project at a petrochemical plant following protests by residents.

The city government held a news conference on Monday evening to further explain the decision, taken on Sunday night.

The vice-mayor of Ningbo, Chen Zhongchao, stressed the project was still in the early-planning stage until being halted on Sunday.

He said the government had planned to conduct an environmental impact assessment, survey public opinion and hold a public hearing on the project but the public had expressed its concerns before these procedures could be implemented.

In a statement released late on Sunday, the government of Ningbo, in East China's Zhejiang province, said preliminary work on the Sinopec project has been suspended pending "further scientific evaluation".

It added that it had halted all projects involving the production of paraxylene, or PX, a flammable, carcinogenic liquid used in polyester.

The move follows demonstrations by residents concerned about pollution in the city.

Contacted by China Daily on Monday, Cen Jianchong, a spokesman for the Ningbo government, was unable to estimate how many people took part in the protests.

However, a demonstrator surnamed Lin at the forefront of the protests said as many as 10,000 took to the streets.

"More than 1,000 came out to express their concern about the plant expansion on Saturday and about 10,000 attended the protests on Sunday," Lin said.

He said protesters began gathering at about 9 am on Sunday at the headquarters of the Zhenhai district government and in Tianyi Square, carrying banners and chanting slogans.

"The people wouldn't leave on Sunday night until the government promised to apologize and kick chemical plants out of Zhenhai," Lin said. "Unlike previous protests, in which most people were villagers or retired workers, the backbone of the weekend's campaign was the younger generation."

Police in Ningbo said most people expressed their views rationally during the protests, but a police car and a private vehicle were overturned on Friday. The number of protesters reached 1,000 at most on Friday night and police had to disperse the crowd to prevent further damage, Li Jian, deputy director of Ningbo's public security bureau, said at the news conference.

He said police took criminal coercive measures on 13 out of the 51 detained in the protest. Another protester was detained on Sunday night as police found a knife and chili powder in his possession.

Sinopec planned to invest 55.8 billion yuan ($8.8 billion) in expanding its plant in Ningbo, Xinhua News Agency reported.

According to the Zhenhai district government, the plant produces 500,000 tons of PX a year.

The expansion, which would increase oil-refining capacity by 15 million metric tons and annual ethylene production capacity by 1.2 million tons, had met "the most stringent discharge standards", the authorities said on Wednesday.

Du Binbin, a Zhenhai resident, said there is a refining plant less than 10 kilometers from where she lives, as well as a petrochemical plant within 5 km of her home.

"I was told the new plant would be at least twice as big as the current one, which would make the irritating smell worse," she said.